Will take place on Wednesday June 16th at Monte Carlo's
Hotel Fairmont at 11am Monaco time (12pm Moscow time).

Hermitage Fine Art Auction House is excited to announce that the Summer 2021 auction of Russian Art and History will take place on Wednesday June 16th at Monte Carlo's Hotel Fairmont at 11am Monaco time (12pm Moscow time).

In the year of commemoration of the great personality of Napoleon, the man who laid the foundations of modern Europe and had also a role in shaping the history of Russia, Hermitage Fine Art presents a pencil sketch by Vasily Vasilievich Vereshchagin for the painting 'Before entering Moscow' (from the series Napoleon in Russia, 1812) (lot 2) with a personal note by the artist’s widow.
The historical painting section features a miniature portrait of Alexander I (Lot 3) from the collection of the French Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier (1753-1815), and a portrait of Alexander I's wife, Elisabeth Alexeevna, after Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842) (Lot 7), and a painting by Schultze (1808-1896) 'The Brandenburg Cuirassier Regiment at the outskirts of Berlin' (Lot 6), from the collection of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I.

The Russian paintings section features works by Konstantin Korovin, Boris Anisfeld, a festive scene in Moscow by Brailovsky. Further important XX century Russian artworks present lots by Pavel Tchelitchev, Ossip Zadkine, Stelletsky. A theatrical theme features paintings and drawings by Korovin and Bakst, as well as a costume designed by Mikhail Larionov.

Never shown at auctions before, works by Russian non-conformists include Steinberg, Sitnikov, Neizvestny and Bielutin, among many others. Hermitage Fine Arts also presents works by Annenkov, Grigoriev, Georgian Lado Gudiashvili and contemporary classics – Nazarenko, Naumova and a bronze sculpture by Vladimir Hoffman.

The important Imperial historical objects section includes a rare silver presentation kovsh granted by Anna Ioanovna to Ataman Ekim Petrov in 1737, a biscuit porcelain bust of Emperor Alexander I after a model by B. Thorvaldsen (a marble original was presented to Nicholas II and his wife and was kept in Winter Palace), and a collection of icons from the 16th to 19th century.

Personal belongings of Rudolf Nureyev and his immediate circle include stage costumes, photographs, albums and a medal. Of particular historical value is the unique footage of Nureyev himself, among which are private recordings made with a group of friends.

The Rare Books, Manuscripts and Photographs section features decrees and letters of the Russian tsars and emperors, (some with super ex-libris of Pavlovsk Palace), Russian history and politics, history of the nobility in Russia and the Romanov dynasty, and the history of everyday life, culture and costumes of the Russian people.

Another interesting lot is a unique archive of personal documents: letters, original photographs, business cards, rare brochures belonging to the Iranian statesman and politician Mirza Riza-khan Arfa od-Dovla (1846-1937), a man with an extraordinary biography, Persian envoy to the Russian and Ottoman Empires, famous for his participation in the 1899 Hague Peace Conference and his correspondence with Leo Tolstoy.

The sale also presents autographed editions and photographs of Russian writers and poets of the Silver Age, theatrical editions and editions by avant-garde artists, and a unique object - a publisher's fair copy of Sasha Chorny's book "Children's Island" with illustrations by Boris Grigoriev. This lot includes 172 handwritten poems by Sasha Chorny in blue and black ink (22 full-page poems and 14 smaller original drawings by the artist).